For those who have the same warped sense of humour this Letter can also be had in French.
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Monday, June 2, 2014

PRINT & DIGITAL MEDIA'S APPALLING HYPOCRISY

Dear Consumers,

KARJIEKER

I promised
at the end of my post headed RIDICULOUS ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (Ridiculous) thatI would tell you whether or not the ASA’s close ally the Print & Digital Media SA (PDMSA) is
just as ridiculous.

Well it turns out it is.

So the ASA is in equally bad company.

The PDMSA too pretends that it sticks to various impressive principles
but when it comes to dealing with
one of it own that clearly has a very warped idea of morality, it won’t take
any action.

It claims to represent more than 700
newspaper and magazine titles. Its members groups are Times Media, Caxton &
CTP, Independent Newspapers, Media 24, Mail & Guardian – all the big boys in
the South African industry – and the Association of Independent Publishers.

So you would expect it to set a shining
example.

Its website talks about its commitment
to promote high standards and integrity,but put to the test this
turns out to be hogwash.

After my complaints
to the ASA about the unbelievable adverts
in The Citizen newspaper (Unbelievable ads) were dismissed out
of hand even though the ASA had
ruled against similar ads in the past, Leo
Grobler, its Manager, DisputeResolutions,
continued theridiculoustrend by suggesting I should contact
the PDMSA.

The ASA he
said, did not have the power to stop newspapers carrying this sort of ad, but
the PDMSA would
havesome
say over the business practices of publications.

The Citizen belongs to the Caxton & CTP Group, so you would think it would abide by what the
PDMSA stands for.

In an email to Hoosain
Karjieker, the President of thePDMSA I asked if hisorganisation had the power to take action
against its members that do not maintain its standards. I told him I was asking
this because a
paper that belongs to one of your members
carries advertisements offering miraculous remedies
and the like that are so outlandish that even the editor of the paper agrees
the ads are not believable. But it doesn’t stop the paper carrying lots of them
on a daily basis, while on its editorial side under a Code of Conduct heading
it tells readers it is ‘committed to report news truthfully in accordance
with the highest standards of journalism.’

Karjieker replied that he had given this to the Chief Executive
(Ingrid Louw)who has been dealing with a few of these issues of late and would
revert back to me.He still passed
the buck even further by telling me that there is indeed the Advertising
Standards Authority that has aprocess where complaints
of this nature can be laid.

In a subsequent email I told Karjieker I wanted his comments
for a post I was writing about my unsuccessful attempt to get the ASA to consider my complaints about The
Citizen’s ads. I pointed out that The
Citizenwas owned by Caxton,
which is a member of the PDMSA, and
that his association claimed to becommitted to promoting highs standardsand to internationally recognised good governance practices

I submitted that what The Citizen was doing complied withneither of these ideals.

Ingrid Louw the PDMSA
CEO then explained why they would do nothing to stop these ads. She said
the PDMSA supported two industry
mechanisms to standardise
and regulate issues that are editorial in
nature.These were the Press
Council that has a Press Code
that isguided
bypublic interest and
deals withreporting, the conduct of journalists and complaints. The other one was the ASA that dealt with advertising in the print media, amongst others.

The PDMSA and its members
subscribe to both codes,
she went on.

Then she too joined the ASA’s realm of the ridiculous.

She explained that her organisation had no say over
the content of newspapers and magazines as this was covered by the two bodies
she had already mentioned.

It is critical, she said, that as media owners we are not seen to be infringing on editorial independence as these
decisions on what content to included and or not to include is taken by the
editors.

That’s an image that is constantly being perpetuated
by newspapers and their owners when there is no question of owners allowing
editors a completely free rein. In
most cases the owners set the standards by which editors must abide even to the
extent of which political party a paper must support.

She wandered further into the ridiculous by
telling me,There
are also other constitutional considerations that must be taken into account. For example the Constitution
provides for freedom of expression
which also includes freedom of commercial speech. This could possibly be further
explored with the assistance of a constitutional expert.

She added that there were many layers to this discussionand she followedher President in passing the buck once again by suggestingthat a discussion
be held with the South African Editors Forum
who could address it as a strategic industry imperative.

What were clearly unbelievable adverts from people masquerading as doctors, professors and
the like had now become a strategic industrymatter that nobody in the industry was prepared to make a judgement on.

YOU CAN’T GET MUCH
MORE RIDICULOUS THAN THAT.

My email to Louw said, Your reply is the copout that I expected. In my experience most newspaper editors make out
that advertising has nothing to do with them. The PDMSA is a joke if it claims
to have various high ideals but it won’t get its members to stick to them. What
sort of morality is that?

But that’s what newspapers do. They are a
dismal failure at practising what they preach. And when you suggest that
carrying dubious ads in a paper should be protected under the Constitution’s
provision for freedom of speech you are going into the same dubious area as the ads
themselves.

What you have told
me is made even more ironic by the fact that your President is also the CEO of
the Mail &Guardian, a paper that has made a considerable name for itself
for exposing the wrong doings of others.

The PDMSA’s
hypocrisy is such that while it refuses to do anything about those ads it
continues itsproud association
with awards that are in keeping with our commitment to promoting
high standards and integrity within the print and digital media.

These include the Nat Nakasa Award, presented by the PDMSA, the SANational Editors Forum
and the Niemen Society.

The judges look for:

·Integrity and fearlessness (both characteristics of the Dearjon - letter).

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About Me

I was born in South Africa just before the Boer War whenever that was?
Started life with a golden spoon in my mouth which made eating rather difficult as a result I was under nourished as a child.
Went to a posh school where I only got moved up a class when my old man donated another sight screen for the cricket pitch.
Career prospects were dismal and I was once turned down for a job in the London sewers. "Too highly qualified;"that’s what they said.
I became a journalist when the Police Force wouldn’t have me.
Like most journos I know nothing about everything but I still write about it.
I decided to have my own blog so I wouldn't have to drink with the editor for hours on end to get my stuff published when according to my independent assessment it’s always of great news value.
My religious beliefs are: You only die once so remember, "You can’t be serious and Have Fun."
NEWS FLASH: I've just been appointed the Poor Man's Press Ombudsman by Presidential Decree (Not to be confused with the PRESS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA'S, SA Press Ombudsman)